Reporting Evaluation Findings In 2001, L.B. Primary School implemented a Guided Reading program for their grades 1-3 classes. Initially, the School Board supported the program, however that support has not been in place for five years. The stakeholders at L. B. Primary School were concerned about the lack of support for their Guided Reading program. They worried that program delivery lacked fidelity and that students were not making adequate progress. This participatory evaluation was collaboratively designed to address the primary research question: Is Guided Reading at L. B. Primary School effective? To answer this overarching question, two sub-questions were investigated:
Is there fidelity of implementation for the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School according to the guidelines established by Fountas and Pinnell (1996)? and,
Are students who participate in the GR program demonstrating improvements in reading skills (fluency, comprehension, phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, and vocabulary) over the course of the school year?
Two findings emerged as a result of this evaluation:
The Guided Reading Program is not being implemented with fidelity, according to the guidelines established by Fountas and Pinnell (1996), and
Some students who participated in the Guided Reading program demonstrated improvement in reading skills over the school year and some did not.
These findings clearly suggest that the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School is not effective and that steps need to be taken in order to implement the program with fidelity to enhance student achievement in reading. Introduction Guided Reading (GR) is an instructional approach/program that involves teachers working with small groups of students in grades 1-3 who demonstrate similar reading behaviours and who read at a similar instructional level. Texts are considered to be at a student’s instructional level if they are read at about 90% accuracy (90-94% accuracy is considered to be an instructional reading level) (Clay, 2002). The reading groups are flexible and based on short-term needs. GR is a time for students to read unfamiliar text that has some challenge to it. The students apply known strategies to the unfamiliar text and the teacher provides support in developing new strategies. It is an opportunity for all the students in the group to independently and quietly read from their own copy of the text. GR develops students’ comprehension, fluency, and critical response to different types of text. It provides a supportive setting where students feel confident to meet new challenges. GR allows the teacher to observe students while they work with unfamiliar text and to provide ‘just in time’ instruction within meaningful contexts. Assessment for learning is embedded in the process as teachers take regular running records of student reading to inform instruction. Formal assessments of student reading are conducted four times during the course of the school year to track longitudinal growth and overall program effectiveness. The ultimate goal of GR is for the students to achieve independent reading of increasingly difficult text. Methodology The program evaluation of the Guided Reading Program at L. B. Primary School was implemented by the evaluators in collaboration with stakeholders, including school administration and program teachers. The evaluation started after the initial consultations and logic model development workshop series were completed. To answer the evaluation questions, evaluators and primary stakeholders (program teachers) collected, analyzed, and interpreted data. Data was collected using both qualitative and quantitative measures. Evaluators interviewed the Administrator and program teachers on a one to one basis to measure program fidelity. The interviews addressed the constructs of organization/ planning, training, and overall impact. Another qualitative measure used was focus groups, which measured the short-term outcome: development of a positive attitude towards reading as well as student perceptions of themselves as readers. Focus groups were made up of a random sample of three groups of 5 students from each classroom who participated regularly in guided reading. The three focus groups also comprised of students in the same grade: one grade one, one grade two, and one grade three group. The moderator (evaluator) recorded each session for further analysis of the data that the participants provided. In addition to these qualitative measures, quantitative measures were used to analyze and interpret data. The constructs of the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency were measured. Two different instruments were used: the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). The DRA and DIBELS instruments measured students’ basic early literacy skills in different ways and the constructs that appear on the DRA, which link to one or more of the constructs that appear on the DIBELS. The Teachers assessed each child in grades 1 – 3 on all of these constructs using the DRA, and on all of the prescribed constructs using the DIBELS (e.g. the DIBELS does not recommend testing students in grade three on letter naming, nor students at the beginning of grade one on reading fluency). After the data analysis was completed the findings were displayed in visual graphs and through a narrative both included in the evaluation report.
Discussion Participation from the stakeholders was evident throughout the evaluation, which was collaboratively designed to address the primary research question: Is Guided Reading at L. B. Primary School effective? To answer this overarching question, two sub-questions were investigated: 1) Is there fidelity of implementation for the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School according to the guidelines established by Fountas and Pinnell (1996) and, 2) Are students who participate in the GR program demonstrating improvements in reading skills (fluency, comprehension, phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, and vocabulary) over the course of the school year? Our data clearly converged to support our finding that the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School is not being implemented with fidelity, according to the guidelines established by Fountas and Pinnell (1996). In addition, it was also found that some students who participated in the GR program demonstrated improvement in reading skills over the school year and some did not. Nevertheless, regardless of the amount of progress made, most students failed to meet the end of year benchmarks for both DIBELS and DRA assessments. Overall, these findings provide corroborating and convincing evidence to support our conclusion that the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School is not effective and that steps need to be taken in order to implement the program with fidelity to enhance student achievement in reading. Suggestions for the future would be to have a backup list of students for the focus group as some students were absent on the specified day, requiring that the focus group be re-scheduled. As well, teacher interviews should not be performed just before they are leaving on a trip to Cuba. Initial teacher resistance to continue the program should be solved through an incentive program.
Recommendations The evaluation team and the stakeholders met to determine which recommendations were feasible and should be included in the published document. Four main recommendations based on the findings have been included for publication:
New resources should be purchased.
A team of teachers should be established to oversee the purchasing of these new resources to ensure that they are engaging to students. The collection of guided reading books should be kept current and complete.
In-services must be offered on a consistent basis.
Release time must be provided to the teachers to administer DRA and DIBELS assessments and to analyze the results. L.B. Primary School’s Guided Reading program will improve with the implementation of these recommendations.
L.B. Primary School’s Guided Reading program will improve with the implementation of these recommendations.
In 2001, L.B. Primary School implemented a Guided Reading program for their grades 1-3 classes. Initially, the School Board supported the program, however that support has not been in place for five years. The stakeholders at L. B. Primary School were concerned about the lack of support for their Guided Reading program. They worried that program delivery lacked fidelity and that students were not making adequate progress. This participatory evaluation was collaboratively designed to address the primary research question: Is Guided Reading at L. B. Primary School effective? To answer this overarching question, two sub-questions were investigated:
- Is there fidelity of implementation for the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School according to the guidelines established by Fountas and Pinnell (1996)? and,
- Are students who participate in the GR program demonstrating improvements in reading skills (fluency, comprehension, phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, and vocabulary) over the course of the school year?
Two findings emerged as a result of this evaluation:- The Guided Reading Program is not being implemented with fidelity, according to the guidelines established by Fountas and Pinnell (1996), and
- Some students who participated in the Guided Reading program demonstrated improvement in reading skills over the school year and some did not.
These findings clearly suggest that the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School is not effective and that steps need to be taken in order to implement the program with fidelity to enhance student achievement in reading.Introduction
Guided Reading (GR) is an instructional approach/program that involves teachers working with small groups of students in grades 1-3 who demonstrate similar reading behaviours and who read at a similar instructional level. Texts are considered to be at a student’s instructional level if they are read at about 90% accuracy (90-94% accuracy is considered to be an instructional reading level) (Clay, 2002). The reading groups are flexible and based on short-term needs. GR is a time for students to read unfamiliar text that has some challenge to it. The students apply known strategies to the unfamiliar text and the teacher provides support in developing new strategies. It is an opportunity for all the students in the group to independently and quietly read from their own copy of the text. GR develops students’ comprehension, fluency, and critical response to different types of text. It provides a supportive setting where students feel confident to meet new challenges. GR allows the teacher to observe students while they work with unfamiliar text and to provide ‘just in time’ instruction within meaningful contexts. Assessment for learning is embedded in the process as teachers take regular running records of student reading to inform instruction. Formal assessments of student reading are conducted four times during the course of the school year to track longitudinal growth and overall program effectiveness. The ultimate goal of GR is for the students to achieve independent reading of increasingly difficult text.
Methodology
The program evaluation of the Guided Reading Program at L. B. Primary School was implemented by the evaluators in collaboration with stakeholders, including school administration and program teachers. The evaluation started after the initial consultations and logic model development workshop series were completed. To answer the evaluation questions, evaluators and primary stakeholders (program teachers) collected, analyzed, and interpreted data. Data was collected using both qualitative and quantitative measures. Evaluators interviewed the Administrator and program teachers on a one to one basis to measure program fidelity. The interviews addressed the constructs of organization/ planning, training, and overall impact. Another qualitative measure used was focus groups, which measured the short-term outcome: development of a positive attitude towards reading as well as student perceptions of themselves as readers. Focus groups were made up of a random sample of three groups of 5 students from each classroom who participated regularly in guided reading. The three focus groups also comprised of students in the same grade: one grade one, one grade two, and one grade three group. The moderator (evaluator) recorded each session for further analysis of the data that the participants provided. In addition to these qualitative measures, quantitative measures were used to analyze and interpret data. The constructs of the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency were measured. Two different instruments were used: the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). The DRA and DIBELS instruments measured students’ basic early literacy skills in different ways and the constructs that appear on the DRA, which link to one or more of the constructs that appear on the DIBELS. The Teachers assessed each child in grades 1 – 3 on all of these constructs using the DRA, and on all of the prescribed constructs using the DIBELS (e.g. the DIBELS does not recommend testing students in grade three on letter naming, nor students at the beginning of grade one on reading fluency). After the data analysis was completed the findings were displayed in visual graphs and through a narrative both included in the evaluation report.
Discussion
Participation from the stakeholders was evident throughout the evaluation, which was collaboratively designed to address the primary research question: Is Guided Reading at L. B. Primary School effective? To answer this overarching question, two sub-questions were investigated: 1) Is there fidelity of implementation for the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School according to the guidelines established by Fountas and Pinnell (1996) and, 2) Are students who participate in the GR program demonstrating improvements in reading skills (fluency, comprehension, phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, and vocabulary) over the course of the school year? Our data clearly converged to support our finding that the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School is not being implemented with fidelity, according to the guidelines established by Fountas and Pinnell (1996). In addition, it was also found that
some students who participated in the GR program demonstrated improvement in reading skills over the school year and some did not. Nevertheless, regardless of the amount of progress made, most students failed to meet the end of year benchmarks for both DIBELS and DRA assessments. Overall, these findings provide corroborating and convincing evidence to support our conclusion that the Guided Reading program at L. B. Primary School is not effective and that steps need to be taken in order to implement the program with fidelity to enhance student achievement in reading.
Suggestions for the future would be to have a backup list of students for the focus group as some students were absent on the specified day, requiring that the focus group be re-scheduled. As well, teacher interviews should not be performed just before they are leaving on a trip to Cuba. Initial teacher resistance to continue the program should be solved through an incentive program.
Recommendations
The evaluation team and the stakeholders met to determine which recommendations were feasible and should be included in the published document. Four main recommendations based on the findings have been included for publication:
- New resources should be purchased.
- A team of teachers should be established to oversee the purchasing of these new resources to ensure that they are engaging to students. The collection of guided reading books should be kept current and complete.
- In-services must be offered on a consistent basis.
- Release time must be provided to the teachers to administer DRA and DIBELS assessments and to analyze the results. L.B. Primary School’s Guided Reading program will improve with the implementation of these recommendations.
L.B. Primary School’s Guided Reading program will improve with the implementation of these recommendations.